Hess Mobil edge press

[Kevin Jenness]

Does anyone here have experience with a Hess Mobil or similar pneumatic edge clamp for applying solid wood edging to panels with pva glue and heat?

[Loren Woirhaye]

Yes. What do you want to know?

I use Titebond 2 Extend, which is RF and hot press rated. That's the correct glue type to use.

Terry Cain described hot press banding here: http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/edgebanding2.shtml

[Kevin Jenness]

Loren,

I am interested in using a rig like this in a small (7 person) cabinet and millwork shop. I've never been happy with the output of automatic edgebanders ( fat, not especially rigid glueline) and their fussy adjustments, gluepot maintaenance and the like. It seems this would be a good way to improve productivity of lumber banding as opposed to bar clamps while maintaining a high quality glueline. I actually became aware of the potential of these through the woodcentral link you cite. Looking at used machinery sites, there seem to be very few available in the US, but many at relatively low cost in Europe. I wonder why they are not more common here.

What I want to know is do they work as advertised? Have you used the Hess Mobil unit or something else like the Stegherr? Are they effective at applying mitred corner edging, and beveled edging ("waterfall drop edging")? Are there any drawbacks to particular models? Can you get a realistic 2 minute cycle time? Basically I want some informed experience to back up a recommendation to management.

[Loren Woirhaye]

I have a Hess. Maintenance is a dream, as in there basically isn't any required and it's hard to imagine the thing breaking down in any way that wouldn't be obvious to fix, and then only after a lot of use. It works well. Your rips have to be straight and square. If you have a slider or accurate panel saw you'll figure that out. There is a miter attachment for the Hess but I don't have it.

Shortly after I acquired the Hess I became aware of a Stegherr near me. I tipped off some guys who were setting up a shop and it went away, so maybe they bought it. The Stegherr looks to me like it would be more prone to getting glue mess in it due to the way the clamp is close to the edge. On the Hess the clamping units are several inches away from the edge and you can see what's going on. The Stegherr and Marunaka type presses can do a lot of short parts at once.

It really is fast... like a minute or 2 for 1/4" edging. You can see the glue cure at the squeeze out. You do have to use the pre-heater for best results. I'm still learning about it. The biggest bottleneck for me is applying the glue neatly as it can make a mess on the press. I have used it for 3/4" thick drop edging and it works.

You can probably run some tests with hot press rated glue on a hot plate or something to see how fast the glue sets.

[nicholas mitchell]

Very interesting.
I thought these were strictly for solid wood edging. Have you used yours for 2 or 3mm pvc?

[Loren Woirhaye]

No, but Terry Cain implied that he did. I've tried it with iron on banding and it works quick. You have to be careful the platten is clean though because any debris may press a dent into the banding.

[nicholas mitchell]

A quick google shows that Hoffman is selling these. There are videos on their site.

[Joe Calhoon]

We have used a Marunaka edge press for over 10 years. We don’t do a lot of cabinets anymore but still use it for banding LVL door cores with thick solid wood edgings. Back when we did the millwork and cabinets for a few houses a year I felt like it was the perfect edgbander for our type work. For sure slower than a automatic bander but the glueline is as good as one clamped by hand with bar clamps. I think you would have to spend a lot for a PUR bander to even get close to the quality glue line these have.

The Marunaka does waterfall edges easy and mitered edges with a little jig work.
We tried plastic edging once with pva glue and that was a mess. We used mostly 1/8 and ¼” solid wood bands with the press release timer set for 2 minutes on the machine. We have this positioned right behind the slider. We usually cut a few sheets then start banding. We let the panels set for a couple hours before flush trimming.

[Kevin Jenness]

Loren and Joe, thanks for your replies. It seems like a good fit for our operation, now on to locating an affordable used unit and selling it to the boys upstairs. There are a couple of Hess presses on ex-factory for around $8k. If anyone reading this knows of a good used model available, I'd be glad to know of it.

[Loren Woirhaye]

I'm not suggesting these are the same thing as a press designed for edge pressing, but these bar heating element are the same sort of thing the Hess press uses. I've read about shops using these bar heaters for edging shelves and things like that. http://www.veneersystems.com/index.php/action/category/id/5/subid/28/

There's a Hess press for sale in NJ on Craigslist.

[Bradley Gray]

I'm not trying to highjack this thread but has anyone used the bar heaters Loren linked to to apply 1/4" or thicker edge banding?

[Loren Woirhaye]

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Applying_Solid_Wood_Edges_to_Plywood_Shelves.html (http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Applying_Solid_Wood_Edges_to_Plywood_Shelves.html)

In some point in my reading about edge presses I ran across the Woodweb thread above. There may be others where the heaters are mentioned. The heaters are really very similar looking to the ones in the Hess press. In the Hess, the heater used for pressing is backed up by a steel channel about 5mm thick and the whole machine is heavily built of steel. There is an asbestos lining under the heaters to prevent transference of heat to the steel body of the press.

[BEN BOYNTON]

Hi Kevin,
We are selling a Hess Mobile now on Ebay. I see it's been a couple of years since this thread was current. Anyway it's there. And if you already got one I'm sure you are finding it a highly versatile machine that gives reliable excellent results.

[Kevin Jenness]

Ben

I'm not in the market currently, but I have passed on your woodweb listing to my former employer. Did you replace this unit with something better, or was there a change in work that caused you to sell it?